98 MAMMALIA OF INDIA. 
round at tip and broad at base ; feet large, especially the fore-feet ; claws 
strong. The spines begin on a line with the anterior margins of the 
ears ; large nude area on the vertex ; spines with two white and three 
black bands, beginning with a black band. When they are laid flat - 
the animal looks black; but on erection the white shows and gives a 
variegated appearance. ; 
SizE.—Head and body about 73 inches. 
No. 156. ERINACEUS MEGALOTIS. 
The Large-cared Hedgehog. 
Hapitat.—Afghanistan. 
More information is required about this species. Jerdon seems to 
think it may be the same as described by Pallas (2. auritus), which 
description I have before me now (‘Zoographica Rosso Asiatica,’ vol. i. 
page 138), but I am unable to say from comparison that the two are 
identical—the ears and the muzzle are longer than in the common 
hedgehog. ‘This is the species which he noticed devouring blistering 
beetles with impunity. It has a very delicate fur of long silky white 
hairs, covering the head, breast and abdomen, “ forming also along the 
sides a beautiful ornamental border” (orsfield, from a specimen 
brought from Mesopotamia by Commander Jones, I.N.) 
The space to which J am obliged to limit myself will not allow of my 
describing at greater length; but to those of my readers who are 
interested in the Indian hedgehogs, I recommend the paper by Dr. J. 
Anderson in the ‘ Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal’ for 1878, page 
195, with excellently drawn plates of the heads, skulls and feet of the 
various species. There is one peculiarity which he notices regarding the 
skull of Z. collaris (or, as he calls it, #écropus): the zygomatic arch is not 
continuous as in the other species, but is broken in the middle, the gap 
being caused by the absence of the #a/ar or cheek-bone. In this respect 
it resembles, though Dr. Anderson does not notice it, the Centetide or 
Tanrecs of Madagascar. 
Dr. Anderson’s classification is very simple and good. He has two 
groups: the first, containing £. mzcropus and EL. pictus, is distinguished 
by the second upper premolar simple, one-fanged, the feet club-shaped ; soles 
tubercular. ‘The second group, containing 2. Grayi, &. Blanfordi and 
LE. Jerdoni, has the second upper premolar compound, three-fanged, and the 
Jeet well developed and broad. The first group has also a division or bare 
area on the vertex ; the second has not. 
i. Jo 
